Councillor apologises over lack of clarity over Stafferton Way parking charges

A councillor has apologised for a lack of clarity over an increase in parking charges in Stafferton Way.

It comes after Andrew Woolley, a disgruntled user of the car park, complained to the Royal Borough about increases which were introduced in April.

When an increase in charges was announced as part of a provisional budget in November, Mr Woolley

believed non-season ticket holders with an Advantage Card would not be affected by the increases.

However, he has been left disappointed and complained to Cllr MJ Saunders, the cabinet member for finance who announced the changes.

Speaking to the Advertiser, Cllr Saunders (Con, Bisham and Cookham), said: “I said that residents would be protected from additional parking charges across all RBWM car parks by using their Advantage Cards and not pay any increases, except for buying season tickets.”

Cllr Saunders admitted that his phrasing was unwittingly misleading as daily charges were put into the same category as season tickets.

He said: “I did not make clear that this exception also applied to parking charges for a whole day, as in Stafferton Way Car Park. I should have made this clear and I apologise for not doing so.”

Residents can only benefit from using their Advantage Cards for timed parking

sessions.

Mr Woolley was also upset that the daily rate proposed for Stafferton Way in the provisional budget in November was originally set to increase charges from £5 to £6 but it has actually gone up to £7 – a 40 per cent rise which he said was ‘clearly unacceptable’.

This is particularly frustrating for Mr Woolley, who cannot buy a season ticket at Stafferton Way due to the lack of availability.

The price of a season ticket has gone up by £100, an increase of 11 per cent.

After announcing the provisional budget, the council reflected on the fact that parking charges were considerably lower in Maidenhead than they were at Slough Station at £7.40 and at High Wycombe Station £8.50.

Cllr Saunders said: “We therefore decided to increase parking charges across all of our car parks to a level we believed remained below others.”

Live music and entertainment by Bombay Baja, The 10th annual Norden Farm Lantern Parade returns to the town centre with this years theme Carnival of the Animals - Down on the Farm - Photo: Emma Sheppard 9/12/18

Live music and entertainment by Bombay Baja, The 10th annual Norden Farm Lantern Parade returns to the town centre with this years theme Carnival of the Animals - Down on the Farm - Photo: Emma Sheppard 9/12/18